Global investment firm The Xander Group has acquired a warehousing asset in the Howrah district of West Bengal from Jalan Builders Group.
The investor has bought 100 per cent stake in Bagnan Infra Pvt Ltd spread across 31 acres. J Sagar Associates advised Xander on the transaction.
The deal has been done through Xander’s warehousing platform. Back in 2019, the investment firm had set up an industrial real estate platform for India with a corpus of $250 million to acquire logistics assets.
Early last year, Xander also acquired majority stakes in three warehousing firms across Chennai and Mumbai with the help of a Swiss asset manager Partners Group.
The assets could add two million square feet (sq ft) to Xander’s portfolio, Rohan Sikri, senior partner at Xander, had said.
Sikri had also said that Xander’s warehousing platform would replicate what the investor’s office and retail platforms had done.
Xander’s warehousing platform follows a mix of strategies to build its portfolio – acquisition of completed and under-construction assets and forward-purchase.
Xander has been actively investing in India for 15 years. It has a portfolio of over 90 million sq ft across all real estate asset classes, including office, retail, industrial, budget and luxury hotels, warehousing, and residential condominiums and townships.
India’s warehousing and logistics segment has gained favour with investors over the past few years thanks to factors such as the government’s decision to grant infrastructure status to the segment and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Many global firms have bet on the segment, either directly or through tie-ups with local developers.
The coronavirus pandemic has turned out to be a boon for the sector as more and more people switch to online shopping.